Thursdays are good but don't schedule on the third Thursday of the month (that's a conflict with Mansfield's internal Tech Council)
Possible topics for next year:
BYOD
SBAC and Other Online Assessments (for the 1st meeting of the 2013-14 school year)
Virtualizing Desktops/nComputing
Blended Learning
Content Management Systems and Content Delivery Systems, e.g., Odysseyware, Edgenuity, etc.
How is computer-based testing coming?
SBAC
Some EASTCONN districts are participating in the SBAC Pilot this spring
There is now an open portal that any district can use to see what the assessment looks like. Check it out at: http://sbac.portal.airast.org/
A number of districts are using the NWEA MAP testing three times a year. This is aligned with the Common Core State Standards. They are affiliated with Edgenuity. Go to: http://www.nwea.org/ for more information.
Some districts are taking the CT Practice Assessment. They are getting some whole school data but it’s not tied to specific students.
Star Assessment - Mansfield has been looking into this and may be purchasing it.
Blue Ribbon - Mansfield is using this as a progress monitoring tool for their Title I and special needs students.
Burning Questions/Issues
Update on Killingly's 1-to-1: Chris attended the Apple Update today and learned about the Casper Suite from Jamf - it's a Mobile Device Management (MDM) system. The Casper Focus app allows the teacher to place their students single app mode. Chris will post on his personal blog when he has a chance to report on how to do 1-to-1 iPads. His blog is located at:
The group talked about advantages of using an iPad vs. a Chromebook. It appears that the lack of a keyboard on the iPad puts it at a disadvantage. Jane showed her iPad cover with the built-in bluetooth keyboard which cost about $59.
What about the newer model of the MS Surface? It also comes without an external keyboard. The group feels that MS is doing a lot of marketing but it's an untested device as yet.
Brookfield - Sydnye Cohen, Library Media Specialist at the high school
Willington - Dave Harding, Superintendent
Is anyone using Google Apps?
Some are looking at/thinking about moving to it but Mansfield was the only one at today's meeting is using it. Norwich is also a Google Apps district. Karen Urgitis, Norwich Tech Coordinator, is a good contact to find out about this. Her email address is kurgitis@norwichpublicschools.org and her work phone is 860-823-6284.
Jim talked about Mansfield using HAPARA which is a management tool for Google - the cost is about $4/student/year. For more info, contact Jim at griffithjg@mansfieldct.org.
Weston is using Windows Live with Skydrive. This gives them the light version of MS Office Productivity Suite which includes Web-based versions of:
Excel
PowerPoint
Word
Outlook
Microsoft is phasing this out and converting to Office 365.
How is BYOD going?
Mansfield put in the Aruba wireless network system last summer and they haven't had any difficulties with BYOD devices. They are going to try some Chromebooks out.
How is blended learning going?
Mike is presenting at a blended learning conference based on the research he's doing for his dissertation. Killingly is us Edmodo and are using some apps including: SAS Subtext on Edmodo which is great for doing collaborative reading assignments. Click here for a slide show of Mike's presentation-->KHS Blended Learning Pilot present to EASTCONN Tech Council.ppsx
PowerSchool Questions
How do I generate automatic alerts when a student is out for a certain number of days?
Tom looked into something similar to that recently. It doesn't appear that PowerSchool has a lot of functionality to do that. He suggested that the easiest thing to do would be to generate a daily report that could be used to flag students who are in danger of reaching the maximum number of absences.
Do you have an update on SIFs?
Tom is just getting up to speed on that; he went to a Pearson update recently. Pearson is talking about training so it is not likely that it will be happening this summer. Jim Griffith reported that there is a New England PowerSchool User Group that meets in West Hartford. He has been finding it to be very helpful. They usually meet for a full day and often they organize the day into meetings with like-minded groups who are willing to share what they're doing. Go to the PowerSchool Web site at http://powerschoolsolutions.com/powerschool-user-groups/powerschool-user-groups/ for more info on their users groups. The next meeting is May 23rd from 9-3 at the Town Hall in West Hartford.
How would you compare Admin+ to PowerSchool?
Killingly left Admin+ when it was a DOS-based version. There were some features that Mike liked better in Admin+. However, the product has improved a lot over the last several years.
What are districts doing for their Student Success Plans?
Most are using Naviance. Tom said that EASTCONN has set up a "middle man" to upload PowerSchool data to Naviance. Contact Tom at tmason@eastconn.org or 860-455-1620 if you have questions.
Web 2.0 and Other Tech Tools
The group talked about some great Web 2.0 tools. They include:
Paper.dl - Create your online newsletter in minutes at http://paper.li/
Hootcourse - Do Twitter in the classroom, not out to the public
Mindcraft - Mansfield was using this in an after school club and the kids loved it but after the Sandy Hook tragedy they had to close the club.
Scratch - Scratch is being taught in Killingly's 8th grade STEM class. Mansfield is using it in an after school club. Brooklyn Middle School is using it.
iPad Apps
Verbally - Mansfield is using this with a student with cystic fibrosis and they are having amazing results.
App Writer - Mansfield is using this with the same student with cystic fibrosis and they are having amazing results.
EASTCONN Tech Council Meeting
May 2, 2013Tech Council Planning for 2013-14
How is computer-based testing coming?
Burning Questions/Issues
Update on Killingly's 1-to-1: Chris attended the Apple Update today and learned about the Casper Suite from Jamf - it's a Mobile Device Management (MDM) system. The Casper Focus app allows the teacher to place their students single app mode. Chris will post on his personal blog when he has a chance to report on how to do 1-to-1 iPads. His blog is located at:The group talked about advantages of using an iPad vs. a Chromebook. It appears that the lack of a keyboard on the iPad puts it at a disadvantage. Jane showed her iPad cover with the built-in bluetooth keyboard which cost about $59.
What about the newer model of the MS Surface? It also comes without an external keyboard. The group feels that MS is doing a lot of marketing but it's an untested device as yet.
Districts that are using 1-to-1 iPads:
Is anyone using Google Apps?
Some are looking at/thinking about moving to it but Mansfield was the only one at today's meeting is using it. Norwich is also a Google Apps district. Karen Urgitis, Norwich Tech Coordinator, is a good contact to find out about this. Her email address is kurgitis@norwichpublicschools.org and her work phone is 860-823-6284.
Jim talked about Mansfield using HAPARA which is a management tool for Google - the cost is about $4/student/year. For more info, contact Jim at griffithjg@mansfieldct.org.
Weston is using Windows Live with Skydrive. This gives them the light version of MS Office Productivity Suite which includes Web-based versions of:
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Word
- Outlook
Microsoft is phasing this out and converting to Office 365.How is BYOD going?
- Mansfield put in the Aruba wireless network system last summer and they haven't had any difficulties with BYOD devices. They are going to try some Chromebooks out.
How is blended learning going?PowerSchool Questions
How do I generate automatic alerts when a student is out for a certain number of days?Tom looked into something similar to that recently. It doesn't appear that PowerSchool has a lot of functionality to do that. He suggested that the easiest thing to do would be to generate a daily report that could be used to flag students who are in danger of reaching the maximum number of absences.
What are some good PowerSchool resources:
Do you have an update on SIFs?
Tom is just getting up to speed on that; he went to a Pearson update recently. Pearson is talking about training so it is not likely that it will be happening this summer. Jim Griffith reported that there is a New England PowerSchool User Group that meets in West Hartford. He has been finding it to be very helpful. They usually meet for a full day and often they organize the day into meetings with like-minded groups who are willing to share what they're doing. Go to the PowerSchool Web site at http://powerschoolsolutions.com/powerschool-user-groups/powerschool-user-groups/ for more info on their users groups. The next meeting is May 23rd from 9-3 at the Town Hall in West Hartford.
How would you compare Admin+ to PowerSchool?
Killingly left Admin+ when it was a DOS-based version. There were some features that Mike liked better in Admin+. However, the product has improved a lot over the last several years.
What are districts doing for their Student Success Plans?
Most are using Naviance. Tom said that EASTCONN has set up a "middle man" to upload PowerSchool data to Naviance. Contact Tom at tmason@eastconn.org or 860-455-1620 if you have questions.
Web 2.0 and Other Tech Tools
The group talked about some great Web 2.0 tools. They include: